College football ticket prices to top games rise 30 percent despite economy

View full sizeThomas Boyd/The OregonianIn college football's top conferences, the cost of getting into a game can vary greatly depending on the size of a stadium, the history of a fan base and the fortune -- or misfortunes -- of the team in question.

Stanford plumps up its prices to match its pile of victories.

Notre Dame departs the age of raccoon coats and wool pennants and adopts variable pricing.

Oklahoma State keeps dealing in Texas-sized dollar amounts -- and taking the top prize.

Single-game ticket prices to the most sought-after college football games have surged 30 percent in three years, to an average of $65. The brisk rise, far outpacing inflation, illustrates the high demand for games despite the lingering effects of the recession.

But even in college football's top conferences, the cost of getting into a game can vary greatly depending on the size of a stadium, the history of a fan base and the fortune -- or misfortunes -- of the team in question.

"One interpretation is that our already misplaced priorities are getting worse as more people bow at the altar of college football at a time when violations of NCAA regulations are becoming increasingly egregious, or at least more have been uncovered," said Randy Grant, author of "The Economics of Intercollegiate Sports." "The other possibility is that college football serves as an escape from otherwise dismal times."

*For these annual games, most tickets go to athletic-department donors

For the third time since 2008, The Oregonian polled schools in the six Bowl Championship Series automatic-qualifier conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC) and Notre Dame on their cheapest adult single-game ticket for each home game. Most schools have just one price per game.

A ticket's face value, however, does not always reflect the true cost of entrance. Required donations for priority seating can boost the price by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But a ticket price can reflect the relative popularity of a matchup as well as a school's willingness to leverage it.

The nation's highest-priced ticket still is Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, at $125, while a ticket to any South Florida or Louisville game can be had for 10 bucks.

Washington posted the biggest increase in its highest-demand game since the newspaper's first survey. In 2008, you could watch Washington host Oklahoma for $30. In 2011 -- after Huskies records of 0-12, 5-7 and 7-6 -- it'll cost you $80 to see Oregon at Husky Stadium. That's an increase of 167 percent.

UW atheltic department officials said that the increase is misleading because only a small number of tickets for the Oklahoma game -- less than 2 percent -- were available at the lower price. The lower-price tickets were not offered for this season's Oregon-Washington game "because of the historical significance of this year's Oregon game and the increased demand surrounding the Washington-Oregon rivalry," the department said.

Missouri's marquee-game price jumped from $29 to $65, in part through elimination of general-admission tickets. Notre Dame, which used to charge the same price for every ticket, now asks $70 for the South Floridas of its schedule and $80 for the USCs.

Joining the Pac-12 prompted a modest $10 boost in marquee-ticket prices at Colorado to $60 and no boost at Utah, where $35 will let you ogle all the shiny new opponents. Longtime conference member Stanford, 12-1 last season, has raised its best-game prices from $45 to $75 since 2008.

Oregon State's marquee-game price stayed flat at $75, while Oregon's increased 31 percent since 2008, from $66 to $86.50 for this year's Civil War game.

Some teams' prices are misleading, particularly when it comes to rivalry games. Face value says getting into the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, Fla. -- a neutral site -- costs just $40. But Gator Boosters Inc., Florida's athletic-fundraising association, says if you haven't already been buying those tickets for years, it'll take an $8,300 annual donation to jump the line and get two of them.

If you're not picky about the matchup, you can exploit the bargains that have sprung up across the country. All Syracuse tickets start at $28, down from $57 for marquee games three years ago. An end zone seat for Washington State-Idaho State is just $20, a sideline seat $35.

The good news at UCLA, despite last season's 4-8 record? A cool $35 will get you in to see Texas at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 17, half of what a marquee game there cost in 2008.

It's true that in the American economy, dreariness abounds and hard choices lie ahead. But, mused Grant, "If college football provides the enjoyment that other parts of life can't, is that so bad?"